Pages

“ The whole object of travel is not to set foot on foreign land; it is at last to set foot on one’s own country as a foreign land.” – G.K. Chesterton

Monday, 4 August 2014

Cheerful Malaysian @ PappaRich [Taipan USJ], Subang Jaya (Malaysia)

We spent the morning of our last full day on our trip to Kuala Lumpur swimming in the pool at my parents' apartment complex, and then going out to lunch at the nearby Taipan USJ where we already had a couple of meals on this trip. We considered briefly going to one of the hawker centres, but the idea of eating steaming hot (and most likely spicy) food in the mid-day heat and humidity did not sound very appealing. We parked near the hawker food court we ate at a few nights prior, and saw a PappaRich restaurant opposite. This popular franchise has expanded overseas, and my first experience at a PappaRich was in fact in Melbourne. The setting was more comfortable than the hawker center opposite the restaurant, and we could enjoy a good variety of Malaysian dishes. Sure, it was not as cheap, but you cannot put a price on comfort when dining out with an infant. Besides, it was cheaper than the equivalent in Hong Kong (but not as delicious), and definitely more affordable than the PappaRich in Australia! Orders are placed using the form and pencil placed on the table, and I assume this is to make the ordering process plain and efficient, but we needed to call a waitstaff over due to allergy and other special dietary requests (that was when we noticed that there was an order form and pencil on the table!). Service was good enough, but we found it difficult to get staff's attention at times. The food was tasty, but both hubby's and my curries arrived cold at the table - that was easily corrected presumably with a zap in the microwave (cooking curry is a lengthy process, so I understand it has to be pre-prepared and not made-to-order). The timing that the food was served could definitely be improved, as some of the dishes were served 5-10 minutes apart. The drinks were pretty good, with a good variety of classics, fusions and other interpretations on the menu.

Hubby's Lychee Iced Tea (or perhaps it was longan?), and the 5-year-old's Milo Dinosaur with an insane amount of heaped Milo powder on top of a Milo drink base - at least Milo is fortified with minerals and vitamins:

My younger sister's Ipoh Koay Teow Soup with Chicken Slices, plus extra serving of Steamed Chicken and Fried Chicken Wings for my brother-in-law who has to adhere to a strict diet due to his IBS:

The boy wanted the fried chicken in the menu photo of the Nasi Lemak with Fried Chicken + Sweet & Spicy Sotong - steamed coconut rice served with fried chicken whole leg, sweet and spicy squid, curry potato, hard boiled egg, cucumber slices and sambal. The other two nasi lemak options on the menu have the usual fried ikan bilis and fried peanuts, but peanuts are not safe for the boy:

Hubby ordered Roti Canai with Curry Lamb lamb cutlets and potatoes served with canai, cucumber & tomato slices, papadum and achar. The roti canai was crunchy and not fluffy, and hubby did not like how the roti could not absorb the curry when dipped into it. The lamb was tender and the curry was delicious:

I ordered Roti Canai with Curry Chicken + Potatoes. This was actually supposed to come with roti stim (steamed white bread) but the kitchen was gracious enough to swap it with roti canai, which was also crunchy like hubby's. Curry was nice, but no other chicken curry can compare with my mum's:

Dining out with hubby will almost always guarantee that dessert will be ordered, even though that was a lot of food consumed already. He requested the ABC Special with Ice Cream. This was a pretty good version of ais kacang (literally "ice beans", aka air batu campur ("mixed ice") or ABC), with generous amount of topping ingredients:

Tau Foo Fa King with Gula Melaka - I love this Malaysianised version of tau fu fa with gula melaka (which was served on the side)!

We all enjoyed the food which filled our bellies well. I must say that I'm quite pleased that this brand is bringing good quality Malaysian food overseas.

1 comment:

Welcome to Expat Gourmand

I'm a Malaysian-born Chinese Australian currently living in the heart of Hong Kong with the hubby, our big boy, big girl and baby girl. I have lived in Australia, Japan (where big boy was born) and Hong Kong (where the girls were born), and I have an obsession with food - hence the name Expat Gourmand. I love cooking AND eating, and am constantly on the lookout for new recipes to try out and great places to eat at. My journal is about my encounters with food - full of recipes I've tried and reviews of restaurants I've eaten at - as well as miscellaneous entries on travelling and life in general.